3.29.2015

After a few delays with some overseas shipping, everything is finally in place for the new assortment to roll out!

This wave has a few special points of interest, a major one being our first crossover production run of Toyfinity's Maxx Zero, from their Robo Force line. Due to the combined creative development of Maxx Zero, the core figure was loaded with many hidden configurations while being prototyped by Ron and I at the shop. One particular build, the Gendrone Force Defender, was designed to eventually surface in our ongoing story arc. The idea behind this specific form centers around a lost piece of Old War technology discovered by Argen while mining the database of a prototype Buildstation located in the Sendollest Drifts for information. Argen soon puts the Gendrone Force Defender into full production, pulling it from obscurity to join the ranks of the Gendrone Rebellion. Special thanks go out to John Kent and the Toyfinity team for sharing the mechanical madness that is Robo Force with us!

The other focus for this wave is of course the metallic Ultra Bronze, which is meant to evoke an AD&D/Golden Axe/Ray Harryhausen vibe. Forged in the metallic Ultra Bronze PVC, both Skeleden and the Neo Granthan in particular are inspired by the days of playing Sega's Golden Axe while on my lunch break during the dreaded days of summer school. Hopefully this new hue adds some fun to the mix!

Axis BuildmanArgen MK XV -Sendollest Guard (Ultra Bronze w/ Aqua visors and White tampos -Includes new two part head and scarf) $12 NOTE- Each Axis Buildman is made up of one Buildman and one Axis Joint Set.

Advanced Phaseon Enyriun MK IV -Sendollest Guard (Ultra Bronze w/ Aqua visors and White tampos) $10 NOTE- Each Advanced Phaseon is made up of one Phaseon and one painted Hub Set

3.26.2015

UPDATE: The launch has been moved to TUESDAY, March 31st at 9:30 PM EDT

A new round is tentatively scheduled for this TUESDAY, March 31st at 9:30 PM EDT (UPDATED), featuring an Ultra Bronze Metallic hue across most of our PVC molds, as well as a few familiar color combinations from back in the old days.

More details, pics and the list will be up tomorrow!

This wave arrives as we finally emerge from a record setting (and very challenging) winter season. We're all very thankful around here to once again feel the sunshine after the last few crazy months!

3.23.2015

3.19.2015

The images above are byproducts of some low-color pixel studies. Each is made to the exact specs of the original Gameboy. I'm still amazed at how much detail and depth those games could convey with only 4 shades of that beautiful puke green.

3.04.2015

Increasing the amount of armor sets to four allows for a bulked up version of the Battlecurse form.

To build this meatball, the upper arms need to be flipped so that the elbow and shoulder positions are switched, which in turn opens up the clearances. Getting the thigh parts on can be a little tricky, but once you slide them into place there's still a decent amount of rotation possible.

I've been carrying this pile of bones around for a bit and so far everything has stayed together, with only the left knee connection occasionally popping off after prolonged rides in my jacket pocket.

Another bizarre configuration involves turning two torso armors on their sides, each one covering half of the Traveler chest for a split faced effect. You can also use the torso armor as a pelvis guard to push the heavy armored look even further.

I imagine Skeleden reluctantly calling upon the wicked energy of his bio-bonded axe, Soultaker, to grant him greater powers as they face the challenges of dimensions and dungeons unknown.

3.01.2015

By combining the parts from two Skeleden Armor Sets, you can start to build the "Battlecurse" form of this oddball hybrid.

The fits on the leg armor parts are also compatible with the hands of a regular Traveler. Flipping the chest armor upside down and seating it sideways around the head also pushes the heavy bio armored look.

Back in the 90's I was nuts about a figure called Battleclad Spawn from McFarlane Toys. The Skeleden Armor design owes that old character a debt of gratitude, as it was a definite influence on the stacked armor style you see in the pic shown above.

It turns out sculpting ace Eric Treadaway of the 4H was the man behind Battleclad Spawn, which is pretty neat, as Eric and I would eventually go on to become good friends as we worked on the 4H's OSM and Power Lords projects together.

2.28.2015

Overcoming a multitude of obstacles thrown at him by both nature and by man, our good friend Boris Savic will finally roll out the return of his BanimonRed Army Men tonight, February 28th, at 9:30PM EST over in his store!

Making its second appearance in the spotlight as a full production vinyl piece is the Banimon Bunkerbuster tank, this time decked out in a green that might be familiar to those of you who like your plastic in Volkriun hues. This new Bunkerbuster is fully compatible with all of the vinyl we produce around here, and its colors match right up to last year's VSF wave.

I had some fun taking a modified Bunkerbuster (shown above with a few of our parts mixed in) for a spin across the piles of snow out back as the sun was setting, and the little armored machine proved once again that it's truly a blast to play with.

2.27.2015

The above pics are of Test Shot Number Five, which sealed the deal after repeatedly striking out on four earlier versions of the Skeleden armor.

The major changes that occurred to the sculpt for Number Five focused mainly on the following:

-Revised size and shape of the torso armor, with newly added sculpting around the front and back edges to achieve a tighter grip on the base body. I tried to hide a bunch of strange visual elements across the back area, with some Lovecraftian inspired creepiness in the form of a little Cthulhu half face hanging onto Skeleden's upper left side. The "back" area is patterned after old school gladiator armor design concepts, fused with a little Bio-Boosted punch.

-Revised size and shape of both leg armors. Skeleden's right leg armor was extended downwards and the skeletal creature on the knee area was tweaked, as well as some redefining of the "ribbing" that curves around to the back. The left leg armor was also extended downwards and given some extra detail and a tighter fit.

-Revised interface of the two part head connection. After George completed his killer master sculpt of Skeleden's noggin, I sent a copy to our team in China to create the first tooling pattern. They then sent back the tooling pattern with our requested 2 part separation, which not only allowed for more interchangeability, but eliminated the need for glue that would have compromised production runs with clear PVC. Since the head was originally sculpted as one part, I went in and added details to the areas that previously would have remained unseen. If you flip Skeleden's head upside down and reverse it, then replug the skullcap on, you can create a "Skeledrone" head configuration, to do Skeleden's dirty work.

When the fifth test shot finally hit the mark (and completely passed my "shake" test) I had to scream for a little bit.

The good kind of scream.

Some pics of the "Battle Skeleden" configuration are on deck for tomorrow!

2.25.2015

Skeleden currently holds the record over here for the most revisions and rounds of test shots (five total) of any project in our almost 8 years of production. The major challenges surfaced in the form of the actual armor fittings. Originally, the torso armor was smaller and more compact (shown above), but the fit kept coming in on the loose side, which was unacceptable. The two leg armor parts also had too much play, and eventually had to have some pretty major changes made to achieve the optimal fit.

Due to the hidden functions of the leg armor parts in particular, nailing their precise dimensions was critical to more than just holding them correctly in place on Pheyden's lower legs. These parts also had to work with the hands, shoulders and thighs, representing a multipurpose angle design that could operate across most of our other molds as well.

Skeleden's armor is compatible with all the Travelers, Buildman, Noboto, the Glyan and Jesse's Callgrim. The torso armor is reversible, with a "bio-gladiator" type cuirass vibe on one side and the Phanosty looking skull sculpt on the other. Consideration was also put into making the torso piece effectively seat upside down on the head, to create a heavy armored look (pretty strange in concept but sort of neat when in place).

The extra time and slightly maddening process of tweaking the armor were both definitely worth pushing through!

2.24.2015

Thank you for the great turnout on Sunday night! With all the intense winter activity around these parts, it was really uplifting to see the latest wave find a rhythm amidst the surrounding landscape of chaos here in the Northeast.

Skeleden has been a work in progress for exactly one year, with the original design sketches being drafted in early February 2014. What started out as a small option for a basic Traveler turned into something much more involved, becoming a significant part of our 2015 plan along the way.

The core design of Skeleden was intended to be a mix of Villser, Pheyaos, Mori's classic Chaos, Inhumanoids, Manglors and of course Skeleton Warriors -with a dash of 90's era Spawn stirred in. Pushing the more biological narrative to the sculpted parts was the central aesthetic focus, and proved to be a trip to explore with the always great George Gaspar of October Toys. The dual duties on the sculpting brought something unique to the final look, and I'm very thankful for George's willingness to deal with my eccentricities during the process.

The actual slide on armor concept used on Skeleden actually came from another project that I had been working on in late 2013, which was a more "Glyos Space" looking set of armor parts that were to be used as an upgrade for the Traveler, Glyan, Buildman, Noboto and Callgrim molds. The basic dimensions of most of our stuff is lined up by design, and I spent an unholy amount of time trying to devise a simple optional armor set that could augment our already exiting figures at a low cost to purchase. Kind of like the idea behind the Armored Valkyries from Macross, or the beefed up armor parts from Spiral Zone. The majority of the sculpting for that "Glyarmor" project was actually completed, and then the Skeleden factor came into play. Things just rolled into a giant bone armored beast from that point, spawning something even more bizarre than our usual oddities from space! Maybe we'll still see that original Glyarmor Set surface before long.

There are many hidden aspects to the Skeleden Armor, and successfully adjusting the measurements and tolerances to get everything to work just right was a true challenge. Over the next few days we'll pop up a few pics showing the little "tricks" that you can pull off with multiple sets, as well as some behind the scenes looks at the development of Skeleden.

Thank you again for checking out the new wave, and for reading this Labyrinth of Letters!

2.22.2015

You may place ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR tonight. We are seeing a high volume of traffic and need everyone's cooperation to make this as smooth as possible. After the initial dust settles, we will lift all limits. Thanks for your understanding and support. Have fun!

2.20.2015

As I write this, we are coming out of 4 weeks of record setting snowfall here in New England. The ridiculous amount of shoveling that all our friends and family have been doing has been totally off the charts! Even though the weather has been bananas, the landscape has been beautiful, supplying some great settings to play around in. I can't recall ever seeing this much snow on the ground in my lifetime, and I don't think it's even close to letting up just yet.

The timing of this winter blast falls in perfect harmony with our new wave of figures, which centers around Search Corps Ankram, a small team of specialists sent to Planet Nemica to analyze the lasting effects of the Bio Paralyzer that was used by Planet Metran to end the Old War. What one of the Searchers stumbles upon beneath the frozen wasteland reveals the ruins of a lost civilization that perhaps even the Elder Delphi were unaware of ...

We are still on track for this Sunday, February 22nd at 9:30PM EST, once again
pending the ferocity of yet another winter storm that's on its way for Sunday. We'll keep things updated as we go.

2.15.2015

We are on track for a smaller release landing next Sunday, February 22nd at 9:30 PM EST. The Neo Granthans will be making an appearance in the assortment, as long as the endless snow doesn't swallow our town completely before the launch.

2.13.2015

Our old friend Jesse DeStasio and his two partners in crime, Nicky Fung and Cade Hiser, have been steadily cranking out episodes of their popular web program Toy Pizza since February 2014. I personally met Jesse D well over a decade ago, and have watched him maneuver through the world of professional like a fox.

After all these years, Jesse D and Onell are finally working on an actual project together, that being Toy Pizza's brand new Knights of the Slice Glyos compatible figures, with their campaign currently running over on Kickstarter.

The Toy Pizza crew recently popped up a new episode
that covers a little bit about Glyos in general, including some
alternate reality factoids about the early days of our existence (ha!).

It's been a lot of fun assisting Toy Pizza with their Knights of the Slice
project, and we're really excited to welcome an all new addition to the
Glyos family!

2.08.2015

2.06.2015

Marty "Loctite" Hansen rolls into 2015 with three brand new colors showcasing his popular Kabuto Mushi MK II production figure!

Continuing his recent theme of famous Japanese character homages, Marty has put together some very clever combinations utilizing an assortment of all new spray applications. My personal favorite is the Cyborg Mushi, which is shown above surveying the Frozen Zone that has taken over most of New England.

Cyborg Mushi also makes a good rival for Redlaw Argen, as they both pay tribute to the excellent classic Henshin Cyborg series by Takara (thank you Paul L. for maintaining the best link).

Head over to Mushi Central to check out the rest of TGB's latest offerings.

1.30.2015

All of the shipping from the release last Sunday has been completed (except a few orders that came in late today).

Thank you once again for a strong start to 2015, and I personally hope that those of you checking out the new Granthan head find something interesting in its execution. I know that it's a weird one, but sometimes the stranger things take a little time to find the right rhythm.

We do have a smaller wave planned for the end of February, and everything is on track to reveal another project that has finally come to fruition.

1.27.2015

Thank you for a great start to 2015! It was awesome seeing some old names come up in the mix during the launch.

I will attempt to keep this brief (right), as we are currently in the middle of a historic blizzard up here in New England and my shoveling/plowing duties are in overdrive.

The debut of the new production Neo Granthan head is something that has been in the works for about a year (like many of the projects here as of late). Finally being able to handle a full production piece, as well as spend some time looking at it through the camera lens has been a strange experience, mainly because this small addition to the ranks has a pretty deep significance within the development of Glyos. I have been drawing and working on the stories for the Granthans since way back in the early days of Rechlen and Aves, and the location of the planet Granthan has been a pivotal story point for many of the events that have transpired in our long running loose narrative (check out the Passcode section to your right).

The LSA battled Govurom there.

Govurom was defeated by Infiltrator Argen there.

Argen was freed by Pheyden there.

The Armodocs were created by Viyer there.

The Massacre on Granthan occurred there.

Agent Nemica became Hades there.

As the stories came together over the years, Marc, Jesse and I talked about eventually spotlighting the inhabitants of planet Granthan, and their role in the larger scheme of things. This was further explored when Marty and I collaborated on the first version of the Granthan head, which Marty sculpted, cast and still offers through his site.

These twists and turns have all arrived at the Neo Granthan version of the Armorvor. I'll expound on the reasoning for the updated look, partial head armor (fires a "Primal Ray") and color choices later, but each aspect has specific thought put behind the final appearance.

I hope that when these new figures land in your hands they spark the imagination and make you smile.

Now, I'm off to shovel.

Again.

Shipping updates will pop up as we dig out of this Snowzone throughout the week!